Domain name & web hosting

Missconduct

Hi,

We're looking to set up a website but don't want to pay a lot for it. Can anyone recommend a good, user-friendly, site/company whose costs are reasonable please? We've never set up a website before but are pretty au fait with techie things generally, but tried using Google and had major problems!

Thanks!

InsideInsurance

For domains I always use 123-reg - they're a big company and any problems I've had were fixed quickly.

For hosting you would first of all need to define your requirements in terms of supported languages, preferred operating system, preferred web server, preferred db server, required storage, required bandwidth, do you require a shared server, virtual server, dedicated server etc.

Everyone at the moment will assume that you want a shared LAMP setup and will suggest a whole host of webhosting company of varying quality.

Missconduct

Hi,

Thanks for the help.

Is it not more economical to use one company for both domain registration and web hosting?

As for your questions:

Supported languages: English and Portuguese (or do you mean computer languages?)
Operating system: Windows Vista
Web server: No idea
db server: No idea
Required storage: No real idea, we want to be able to upload some short video footage, photos and documents.
Bandwidth: No idea. It won't be heavy traffic.
Server: Shared server should be fine we think.

No idea what a LAMP setup is, sorry. Regretting saying we're au fait with techie things now!

To give you more info, it's for dog breeding, so will have a page about us, a page for each dog (with photos, video, uploaded documents such as pedigree), information about events we are organising, that sort of thing, so no purchasing or forum or anything, just an information site.

jassi_9

I would also like soemthing very similar to miss conduct

Basic site, english speaking, run on windows xp, no need for huge amounts of bandwidth as i think my site will only be about 10 pages long, with a small picture on each with 4-5 lines of text.

No ecommerce is needed

I heard bad reports about using 123 reg as a webhost though, in fact a friend of mine has an estate agents website with them and it is always down and slow to load etc

Like missconduct says isnt it easier to get the domain and hosting done from the same people?

I wouldn't mind paying a little bit more for a more reliable host, as long as they were reliable and my site was fast to load.

I think we want pretty much the samething miss conduct so im not trying to hijack your thread!

InsideInsurance

LAMP is the most common setup for a webserver standing for Linux (the OS), Apache (the server software), MySQL (the db) and PHP (the programming language). Given all of them are distributed free of charge it tends to be the cheapest option but to be honest these days there is little difference in hosting costs between a linux setup as above or a windows based server

Really should go back to basics then......how are you going to be create/ generating the pages? Are you intending to use a content management system (eg Wordpress) or use something like Dreamweaver or Frontpage on your desktop? If you are using a content management system then which one? If your designing them on your computer instead what package are you using?

InsideInsurance

jassi_9 wrote: »

run on windows xp

You would never run a website on XP as it is a desktop operating system and not suitable for a server. Windows does a Server version of itself but unless you are intending to be programming using the .Net framework there is VERY little justification for using a Windows server over a Linux one (linux servers are generally a little bit cheaper than windows but no way the difference there used to be)

I would split host and domain simply because I dont like all of my eggs being in the same basket. I would use 123-reg for the domain but never use their webhosting!

I do use a company called CSNewMedia that is very much aimed at those wanting a professional service. I however do however need the .Net compatibility and so do use a Windows Server. I therefore cannot comment on if their Linux servers are as good/ reliable as the competition as I have never needed to benchmark them.

jassi_9

InsideInsurance wrote: »

You would never run a website on XP as it is a desktop operating system and not suitable for a server. Windows does a Server version of itself but unless you are intending to be programming using the .Net framework there is VERY little justification for using a Windows server over a Linux one (linux servers are generally a little bit cheaper than windows but no way the difference there used to be)

I would split host and domain simply because I dont like all of my eggs being in the same basket. I would use 123-reg for the domain but never use their webhosting!

I do use a company called CSNewMedia that is very much aimed at those wanting a professional service. I however do however need the .Net compatibility and so do use a Windows Server. I therefore cannot comment on if their Linux servers are as good/ reliable as the competition as I have never needed to benchmark them.

Sorry mate this makes no sense to me at all, i dont understand what you mean here?

I just want to get someone to build me a website and find a domain name and a host.

They will be using joomla, wordpress, or drupal to build the website as far as i know....they might use something else as i only require a static website apparently

Can anybody please come up with a good webhost? I dont understand any of the jargon, i just want to know where to buy my domain and web host from so i can give it to the desiginer to put my site on?!

InsideInsurance

If you are getting someone to build it then they should be recommending you a webhost or at least telling you what you need to look for in the host.

If they build it on any of the content management systems you mention then you'd be better off using a Linux based webhosting. Alternatively if they built it off any of the systems I'd use then Linux would be out of the question as my software only runs on Windows machines.

NICKMAC_2

I use YOLA see what you can do. Cheap, helpful, a good forum with a lot of user help.

JuniorDesigner

Guys, why dont you have a look at Weebly.com? Its a free site builder, very easy to use, simple drag and drop customisation etc. Drop me a PM if you need any help with it at all!

JuniorDesigner

thewebsitehoster wrote: »

Weeby sites are very samey. Depending on how you want your business to look you can use Wordpress and their free hosting (ads are present) or pay for your own domain and first years hosting for £25.00

Have to disagree with this im afraid. Weebly sites are not samey. Especially not so if you know some coding etc. At the end of the day if you're looking for an online presence at a low cost and something you can put together yourself then I highly recommend it.